Removing a domain controller from a domain

Adding a new domain controller was covered in the previous section. We now know how to deploy a new forest or an additional domain controller with the GUI wizard or with PowerShell commands. Sometimes, you need to remove the domain controller from the domain, a process that's logically different from adding a new domain controller.

The domain controller removal process consists of two steps: demoting the domain controller and removing an AD DS role from the server. Like other tasks, this can be done using either the GUI wizard or PowerShell commands.

If you want to remove the domain controller using the GUI wizard, the removal process consists of several steps that need to be performed: